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ANTIFOULING PAINT FILM STRUCTURE, WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO CROSS-SECTIONS

Experimental program is presented in which samples of antifouling coatings, made of a cuprous oxide pigment in an unplasticized vinylresin matrix, were studied by using scanning electron microscopy. Cross-sections prepared by fracturing frozen antifouling coating specimens were easily prepared, showed little distortion and yielded detailed information about the internal structure of antifouling coatings when examined by scanning electron microscopy. Cross-sections prepared by ultra-microtomy yielded more limited information because this technique produced distortion of the revealed cross-section. There is a linear correlation between leached matrix thickness and the volume fraction of pigment in these coatings. Unleached coatings containing low volume fractions of cuprous oxide were nonporous throughout their thicknesses.